'Flatbed' ship ready to transport stricken USS Cole

WEB EXCLUSIVE On the scene with CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The bomb-damaged USS Cole will begin its journey home from Yemen next week on the deck of a refitted special ship, according to the U.S. Navy.

Heavy lift ship MV Blue Marlin, under contract to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, will carry the damaged Navy destroyer from the Gulf of Aden.

A terrorist attack October 12 blew a 40-foot-by-40-foot hole in the portside of the 505-foot USS Cole, killing 17 U.S. sailors and injuring 39.

MV Blue Marlin will carry the destroyer on its 584.6-foot deck to the United States. Navy designers have worked with the ship's company to develop sea fastenings to be placed upon Blue Marlin's deck to secure the ship during its journey, which is expected to take 25 days.

VIDEO CNN's Carl Rochelle explains how the transport operation will work - (October 16) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     INTERACTIVE Timeline: The attack on the USS Cole See a 3-dimensional image of the USS Cole Get the plugin Animation of a transport ship conducting a recovery procedure at sea     ALSO U.S. official denies report of bin Laden-Cole link CNN affiliate exposes lax Navy security

A shipyard in Dubai installed the devices on the Norwegian-owned ship which has a large open deck like a flatbed truck. Blue Marlin then sailed to the Gulf of Aden, where the damaged ship has been moored.

To lift the destroyer, Blue Marlin will fill its ballast tanks, submerging its deck until only the house and two aft towers are visible above the waterline. Tug boats will position Cole above Blue Marlin's submerged deck.

Blue Marlin will then empty its ballast tank, causing its deck to rise to meet the destroyer. Once the destroyer rests on the blocks on Blue Marlin's deck, the heavy lift ship will continue to lose ballast until it is at normal draft of about 35 feet.

That part of the operation is expected to last about 24 hours, after which workers will finish securing Cole aboard Blue Marlin to prepare for the ship's transit to the United States, where Cole will undergo a damage assessment and, possibly, repairs. A small number of Navy personnel will travel with the ships.

MV Blue Marlin is one of the world's largest heavy lift ships. It is used in the commercial sector to lift unwieldy cargo such as oil rigs.

Last July, it performed its first service for the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, transporting two Navy mine hunters from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

The Blue Marlin was in the Middle East region at the time of the attack on Cole.

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the Government of Bahrain
MOFA Qatar - English Government of Qatar
U.S. Department of Defense
 • The Pentagon
Defense Intelligence Agency
U.S. Senate Committee on Intelligence
United States Senate Committee on Armed Services
National Security Council

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